Watch: Community's geeky Beetlejuice gag goes viral

By Sam| 9 years ago

An incredibly subtle, incredibly geeky, incredibly awesome gag on the cult comedy Community is taking the internet by storm — and even people who've never watched the sitcom will have to admit it's pretty impressive.

An incredibly subtle, incredibly geeky, incredibly awesome gag on the cult comedy Community is taking the internet by storm — and even people who've never watched the sitcom will have to admit it's pretty impressive.

So basically, Community is known for its pop-culture references — especially its nerdy, obscure pop-culture references. The reference that's captured the internet's imagination is one about the 1988 horror-comedy Beetlejuice, which established that if you say the name "Beetlejuice" three times, the wild and crazy ghost — played by Michael Keaton — will appear before you.

Every one of Community's three seasons has snuck in a one-off, seemingly irrelevant reference to Beetlejuice. And true to form, the third mention of his name summons him — or at least, a Beetlejuice lookalike who appears briefly in the background of a scene.

It's too bad the majority of TV viewers won't even see the joke: despite its critical acclaim and fervent online fan base, Community's ratings are pretty bad in the States (it's only aired intermittently in Australia), and US network NBC recently dumped the show from its line-up, sparking speculation it'll be cancelled soon.